Can't wait, don't wait

For skiers and snowboarders waiting impatiently for the ski season to start the good news is that if long-haul travel isn't a problem, it never actually ends.

The bad news is that it requires deep pockets to travel to the mountainous regions of the southern hemisphere where the season starts in mid-June and ends in late October - or even later.

With careful planning it is possible to cross the equator from south to north during November without losing a single day's skiing. The highest, most snowsure resorts in North America crank up their ski lifts in the first week in November, and some in northern Europe start at about the same time. It is also possible to travel no further than the Alps and still ski every day on glaciers in resorts such as Zermatt in Switzerland, Tignes in France, and Kaprun in Austria.

But the runs are limited, and serious snow seekers head south to the more challenging terrain available in Australia, New Zealand, and South America during their winter seasons.

Here's our guide to where to ski before the start of the 'official' skiing season in December when wintersports holiday packages start to become available.